


Howard Stark: Loving Father, Manipulative Bastard

by ForwardSteel



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Reflection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 17:43:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11041107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ForwardSteel/pseuds/ForwardSteel
Summary: Tony spends the night before the former Avengers go to trail contemplating difficult relationships. He reflects both on his relationship with Bucky and with Howard.





	Howard Stark: Loving Father, Manipulative Bastard

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted a to write a fic that showed that human emotions are often messy and at times illogical.

Tony woke up, his sheets damp with sweat. The hotel room was too cold, to close to the temperature of that freezing base in Siberia. He remembered his father begging for the Winter Soldier to spare Maria. 

He still can't forgive Barnes for what he did. Tony feels the rushing ange, rising hot and fast every time he wakes up having dreamed of his parents’ bloody and terrifying last moments. 

Tony pushes himself out of bed and walks slowly to the window. He pulls back the window and stares out into the night. Munich is glowing below his penthouse room. Tomorrow the U.N. would be holding a special session to decide how they would treat the former Avengers. The former Avengers had turned themselves in after their presence in Wakanda had started to threaten the country. 

Tony had given his testimony the day before, a simple recitation facts, no excuses, no information withheld and no exaggerations. He had briefly entertained the idea of throwing every lawyer and pulling in every favor to get Barnes convicted of the double murder. In the end, despite all the hatred and anger he felt towards Barnes, logic had won out. Barnes had not been acting of his own free will and he could not be held responsible for what he was forced to do. 

Tony had tried to recuse himself from the trials citing his former friendship and his hatred of the Winter Soldier. The U.N. had tried to accommodate his request but in the end Tony was the only witness to many of the events in the so called Civil War. He had settled for stating facts without opinions or commentary, let other people make the hard choice for once. 

Tony was leaving tomorrow after the trials. He had retired from being a superhero and he intended to take a year long sabbatical from SI’s R&D department. Spend a year mourning his parents a new, a year to heal. 

Tony missed his mother, it was a clean grief without conflicting emotions. Tony also missed his father, but that grief was laced with bitter resentment, love and anger. 

Howard Stark had been a tough father, never abusive but he was a very controlling parent. Any achievement that Tony made was never celebrated unless Howard had encouraged it first. Howard had never softened criticism, never openly praised. Howard knew exactly what he needed to say to get Tony to crave his approval. A “you're smart enough, so go do it” the mere implication of possible pride was enough. 

Howard was a tough father, one who never said I love you to Tony, but he had patiently explained to Tony how to build a circuit board at the tender age of 3. He had never missed an a birthday, even if all he could do was call. He had helped nurse Tony back to health during one particularly nasty bout of the flu. Taking the night shift so that Maria and Jarvis could sleep.

Howard Stark was a good father maybe even a loving one, thought Tony as he wandered back the empty bed. But that didn't stop him from being a manipulative bastard.

**Author's Note:**

> A note to any readers: what Howard did to Tony? The emotional manipulation? That is abuse, Tony currently does not see it as such but it is still an extremely toxic and somewhat abusive relationship.


End file.
